Walking toward him unobstructed, Samuel grabs his right hand for a closer look. No amount of fear, nor worry is within his eyes and his actions.
“Eh? Excuse me?” William says as he didn't expect him to touch him like that. Where does he forget his manners?
“I am a researcher, not anything else. This Emblem of yours is quite interesting, as I see it. According to the reports from the Awakening, it lost its luster, but it still shines and acts in Vectors. It is different, instead of the regular gem-like appearance that is very common. There are also many kinds of intangible Vectors inside of the Emblem, while there is no indistinguishable barrier between them and outside. That is another irregularity, and that is impressive and interesting.” Samuels talks to William as if he explains it not to him, but to himself.
With the other hand, Samuel grabs a piece of shattered concrete from the ground and shoves it slowly toward the Emblem. It goes closer until it touches its surface. Then, the rock trembled just a little, before flying away, and turning to dust in a blink of an eye.
“Huh? What was that? I didn't catch that.” Samuel mutters unwillingly, looking at his hand, which is safe, but the rock was no more.
“This rock of mine doesn't like other hard surfaces. For some reason, when it comes to the fabric, it ignores them for a couple of moments, to a minute, but it will still turn them to dust. Your attempt is nothing surprising to me since this Emblem in my hand is quite wild.” William gives him his piece of mind, so Samuel wouldn't have any other ideas. It works and Samuel doesn't place anything near his Emblem, nor touch it himself.
“So it's the case of the Annihilation being prevailing inside of your Emblem no matter the control, or even if it's active or not?”
“That sounds about right since the moment when I Awakened, but it's not for Skills or general use. My Vector Claw, which is my first Mold doesn't have any wild actions or troubles like that. It's milder, but it will still destroy my clothes, so that's about it.”
“I see... Since it doesn't have any barrier, its Vectors are wild with patterns of will. Interesting. This is much better than I anticipated. I wonder what would Director think of that.”
“I am pretty sure he was interested, but only for a minute.”
“Oh right. He was in your Awakening. I saw that, apart from the fact of that veil of crimson afterward. It was quite an intriguing part as well, but we couldn't do much research about it, since the Accelerator didn't work that well in your case.” Samuel explains the sudden revelation that William didn't know about.
The thing about his Awakening is still a mystery to him, but he doesn't care that much about that bothersome time. Veil of Crimson? He wasn't even half conscious at that time, and remembering anything from it is like trying to read the System for the first time.
It's confusing and unnecessary most of the time.
“Wait what? What about the Accelerator?” William suddenly asks as this was a piece of news he hasn't heard at all.
“You don't know... I know... Not like it's important. Directo Hough spend 3 days researching the cause in the Accelerator but didn't find a thing. The readings weren't that clear. I don't know the cause, but it doesn't matter all that much, since we can research regardless of your progress in the Awakening. It's just the readings from the Accelerator won't come back. For now, no matter what, give the Academy a try, and 1st year is at least a beginner's guide for a great Walker.”
“I will try... Thank you for the information, mister Samuel.”
“No need for thanks... You will give me plenty of something in return... Heheheheh.” Samuel laughs while walking away.
Indicating Roman to come over, the fun part shall start, but before that, he whispers something in his ear.
Frowning afterward, Roman shrugs his shoulders and looks at the man as he walked aside. As if unsure if he heard it right, it isn't all that important, since Roman knows what's up with this. He knows that his hearing wouldn't betray him, even if the person is a terrible whisperer.
“I guess I can only do what I am supposed to do.” he thinks to himself and walks towards William, who is ready to follow with the combat training.
“Ehm. Ehm.” Roman clears his voice before continuing. “Combat training it is.”
“Yes. Yes. I was looking forward to this for a long while.” William beams with a smile as he gets on his feet, expectant and excited about what is about to happen.
“Seeing you like this is the most down-horrendous thing that I ever saw in you. Do you believe the fights of men are anything but similar to the ways Walkers fight?” Roman asks.
“Is it not? I know some Walkers can have very strange abilities, but Walker against Walker shouldn't be anything strange. In fact, this is training, so why talk about fights? I bet they should be sometimes inhuman, strange, and completely irrelevant to the way humans fight with each other, but...”
“...But it isn't all that normal, William. At all. Emblems are not humane if that makes sense. We are users of these powers, but with enough time, you will stop thinking of yourself as one. That's the least what could a proper Walker's mindset be like.”
“I will see, eventually, that is. I don't know about that for now, but our minds and vision differentiate us from the monsters, don't they? I feel we can remain ourselves no matter the power we get.” William argues, thinking of what appears in his mind when the word Walker comes to mind.
He has seen plenty of them in his mind, even prior to the encounter with Luke, and the happenings in the Federation in the past 6 weeks.
Even considering the past, and the amount of time he survived the destruction of camps, it comes as no surprise. He saw and met many monsters and Walkers along the way of his youth. Most were brief, almost negligible in the poor life he always had. It was a life for survival, trying to reach the living and figure stuff out without parents.
Though now, he feels he could do the same as many Walkers have done the same in the past.
That is to fight for humanity, survive, and die for them, perhaps? He doesn't have too high expectations put on himself, but his right hand is firm, ready to form fists for a good cause. He hopes he will become at least powerful enough to get acknowledgment from people who did the same to his father.
William doesn't know why he wants this acknowledgment, but it is the beginning of a vision of what he wants to do. Having some goal isn't a bad thing, and the vision of his father and constant talking about him put certain ambitions in his heart. Be it unwillingly or not, he may go for that. It will be a small mission, so his mind would focus on the future.
Having that goal could work wonders in his mind since he has always done the same all his life. It all started in the muddy destruction, followed by the crimson light, and the place he met the crying kid, named Dann. Now older, he feels right to act similarly, but for different things. For himself? Could be. For others? At today's age? He doubts so, but wouldn't find it that bad. For the people who helped him? He wants to believe it's the case for his ambition as well.
So, with that firm belief, William steps toward Roman, who is talking instead of fighting.
“So? What's the deal with the fighting? he asks, a few steps away from him. “Destroying monsters is part of our lives now, isn't it?”
Sighting, Roman shakes his head and thinks of the solution to shut down this brat for some time.
“3 days, huh? I have no doubt you will be able to fight with the most Rank 1 after this. That's how important having the basics is great. Summon your Emblem, and do so with the Inner Enchantment. Do the Vector Hand instead of the Claw. No Annihilation, nor any Feel of the Annihilation shall be present.” Roman orders, folding his hand around his chest.
“Alright.” William complies with his order and in a single motion with a single "arise". He summons his Emblem, with the following 4-second segment of changing his Claw to the Hand. Then, he summons a succulent light around his whole body that seems a bit different from the first time.
William feels about it the same, but the effectiveness and time of the Inner Enchantment remain at rank 0 for the time being. Roman told him about it with a simple explanation. It takes a long time to get accustomed to a Skill, and he isn't that far from reaching Rank 1. All he needs is more time, feeling the power of the Inner Enchantment, and practicing it more frequently.
Though that's easier said than done yet William still does it with clear motivation. The brunt force of Inner Enchantment every day is like a steady flow of improvements and the more time, the better it should be. Each is almost a dozen minutes long, so he isn't that far from the 20-minute mark.
Standing there firm, with Vector's Hand and shield around his body, Roman nods in approval at the readiness and quality of William's start.
“I guess you are ready to survive this strike, right?” he says, and before giving any time for William, Roman put his hand forward. “Shadow ball!” Roman utters and a beam in the shape of a ball flies from his pointer finger, right at William, who couldn't dodge from such a close distance.
Managing to place his Vector Hand right around his chest is all he manages, but it's not enough.
Eyes gulping, he feels a terrible force going through his stomach, guts, and who knows where else. He is flung across the bunker for dozens of feet while doing some somersaults involuntarily.
Then he stops right about 3 feet from the wall because the force that Roman used was quite precise. William managed around 11 somersaults, which is quite an impressive number.
Laying down on his back, William still has the Vector Hand around his chest. It was enough to cover almost all of his upper body, forgetting the head.
Coughing, he feels this attack very much so, unlike the first time he was hit by a flick of his finger.
“My goddess... Oh, my stomach... I ate not so long ago... Ugh..” He complains in his mind while trying to stabilize his breathing and get to his feet. He couldn't do either, which frustrates him.
This hit almost shattered, no... Roman's strike went right beyond the Inner Enchantment defense or was that powerful without even going through it?
“What in the world was that? I thought this was combat training. Not a living practice for the instructor?!” William shouts towards Roman, who looks awkwardly at him.
“Well, this went as expected, but better than I expected. See? You can talk and catch your breath after going through the attack of lessened Rank 3 Skill. That is good.” Roman argues, but at this point, it is more of an excuse. William doesn't bite such obvious bait to make him feel better about getting bullied.
“Can I attack you now? We will be even if that's the case!” William tells, getting to his feet. He actually stands firm and steady, unlike what he thought when he reached the last somersault.
Not even a bit of dizziness is in his mind as a surge of power goes right from his core, or somewhere else.
“Feeling good, William?”
“I do... So?”
“It took you 20 seconds to stabilize.” Roman, with his folded hands around his chest, shows a timer in his left hand.
“You are testing me b bulling me? Is this supposed to be good?” William asks, furrowing his brows, and clutches his Vector Hand.
“What did you expect? I think defense training was one of my favorite and most popular classes in the Academy of my time. People don't like being bullied. That's one of the reasons a good defense can stop that from happening.”
“I suppose there is some speck of truth in this logic. What do you want from me? Taking this attack of yours for a whole day? I think I will vomit, and die while drowning in my blood.”
“That doesn't sound that great, but better than being cleaved in half by Mantis, or turned to shreds by Hellgars.” Roman gives him a mocking reply.
William is speechless by his word, as he couldn't counter them. Having no ammo to talk back, he does the following, surprising Roman a little.
He pounced forward with unlikely speed, with the right hand that is placed forward like a rocket. In about 4 strides, he is right before his face, but Roman stops him with ease.
He grabs the Crimson Hand with his palm and like an expert in judo, stomps Allan to the ground in a single motion of his leg, and use of gravity.
Using his own power against him, Roman doesn't even sweat.